Inserter machines, such as those produced by Pitney Bowes Inc. are used by organizations to produce large volumes of mail at very high speeds. These machines must be capable of handling sheets and collations of paper very quickly and precisely. In recent designs, it has been found that servo motors are well suited for executing the demanding and precise motion profiles needed for transporting paper in these systems.
Commonly, design requirements for output mechanical power or torque are increased to exceed the capability of the originally selected motor and drive. This forces the design engineer to consider one or more of the following options: reduction of mechanical loads, reduction of performance requirements, or use of a higher output motor and drive.
Very often, it is impractical to reduce the mechanical loads and/or unacceptable to decrease the performance requirements. This forces the design engineer to use a larger motor and drive from that was originally selected. This can result in higher system cost and can cause packaging problems due to issues associated with increased component size.
For mechanisms that require more output torque or power than less expensive ⅓ horsepower DC servo motor systems, AC servo motor systems are frequently considered as a practical option. However, the incremental price increase to implement an AC servo motor system can be disproportionably more than the additional output power or torque required of the mechanism and motion profile.